European governments are being urged by Amnesty to spill the beans over their alleged cooperation in terror operations with the CIA. The human rights organization wants the guilty to be brought to justice and the practice to stop.

Amnesty is adamant that had it not been for various European
governments, the US would have been unable to detain so many
people, often without trial, for so many years. These calls come
after a US Senate report published in December seemed to
implicate a number of European nations in implementing terror
programs.

“The Senate report makes it abundantly clear that foreign
governments were essential to the ‘success’ of the CIA operations
and evidence that has been mounting for nearly a decade points to
key European allies,” said Julia Hall, Amnesty
International’s expert on counter-terrorism and human rights, on
the organization’s website.

Amnesty International says its research shows Poland, Romania and
Lithuania allowed secret CIA detention sites on their soil, while
UK agents were involved in torture. The human rights group says
practices such as waterboarding, sexual assault and mock
executions were some of the torture processes detainees suffered.

"Governments can no longer rely on unsubstantiated 'national
security' grounds and claims of state secrecy to hide the truth
about their roles in the torture and disappearance of
people," Hall added.

The London based organization is urging those countries in
question conduct effective and thorough investigations, and
should look to reform their laws and policies to ensure that such
practices aren’t repeated in the future. They also want all those
who took part in these illegal proceedings to face criminal
charges.

“The USA’s staggering departure from the rule of law after
the 11 September 2001 attacks provides a cautionary tale for all
governments grappling with such violent crimes. Dispensing with
human rights and civil liberties is morally and legally wrong, it
alienates certain communities, and it sends a dangerous signal to
other governments inclined to violate people’s rights under the
cover of ‘national security’,” Hall said.

The UK has come in for some of the harshest criticism, with
Amnesty saying Britain was arguably the most important ally in
the CIA’s global counter-terrorism operations. A parliamentary
investigation into allegations that the UK helped the US in its
terror operations is due to be completed by the end of 2015.
However, Amnesty International says this report isn’t independent
as the government has “absolute discretion to withhold
information based on national security considerations.”

“The politicians took a very active interest indeed. They
wanted to know everything. The Americans passed over the legal
opinions saying that this was now 'legal,’ and our politicians
were aware of what was going on at the highest possible
level,” a source said, speaking to the Daily Telegraph.

“The politicians knew in detail about everything – the
torture and the rendition. They could have said [to M16] 'stop
it, do not get involved’, but at no time did they,” the
source added, appearing to contradict numerous previous
statements made by UK officials.

On December 10, in the wake of the Senate report being released,
Poland’s former President Aleksander Kwasniewski (in office
1995–2005), confirmed that Poland agreed to CIA “black
sites,” but didn’t authorize the torture of prisoners. This
was the first time a Polish leader admitted the country had
secret CIA detention centers.